HeyPorter

If you're booked through a travel agent, you have to pay through them. If you booked direct, there's usually a "make a payment " button under your upcoming cruises summery.

I am a first time cruiser, I am not a size 2 but a bigger lady with a love of the water and would love to sit and enjoy the sun like everyone else. However because of society people seem to think that if you are a larger person you should not be in a bathing suit, let alone be sunning. Is there all shapes and sizes on the cruises? Should I feel comfortable to relax and swim like everyone else. Please be honest. Also any tips for our cruise for the first s=time would be great. :)

I went on the Breakaway in March, during spring break. I was a *little* worried, as I am what I call super plus size (a 24) I marched my happy bottom down to Lane Bryant and tried on swim suits until i found one that made me feel pretty. It was expensive AND WORTH EVERY PENNY. I felt amazing. And I wore that suit every day. Happily.

Does anyone know what the spa package (thermal suite access) might cost on the Getaway on the 14 day transatlantic?

Or, alternatively, what it may have cost recently on either the Escape or the Epic on either of those transatlantics?

On our recent 7 day BA cruise, it was $179 per person purchased in advance. But it has to be higher on a 14 day cruise, right?

I'm trying to decide if the spa balcony is worth it. There's about a $375 difference between a spa balcony and a non-spa balcony.

I believe that anyone who thinks the following passage:

"U.S. Citizens on closed-loop cruises will be able to enter or depart the country on the cruise with proof of citizenship, such as an original or copy of his or her birth certificate (issued by the Vital Records Department in the state where he or she was born) and, if 16 or older, a government issued photo ID."

is up to interpretation, is either not reading it, or is choosing to "interpret" it in their favor. It very clearly states that the original OR the copy must be issued by the Vital Records Department.

If my memory serves, this passage used to state that the copy must bear the raised seal of the Vital Records Department. Now that most certified copies are digitally printed, they don't have the raised seal. So they took that part out.

I am sure that if you search long and far enough, you will find people who have successfully talked their way onto a ship with a photocopy. Just as if you search, you will find people who have talked their way onto airplanes without an ID. These people got lucky. Plain and simple.

You need to do one of three things:

A. Send a family member (like your mom!) to the Vital Statistics office to obtain a certified copy that can be overnighted to you.

B. Call Vital Statistics in your birth state/county and see if they will accept an online request for your certified copy of your birth certificate, or faxed copies of your ID, and overnight the certified copy directly to you.

C. Call the passport processing center and see if you can upgrade to expedited processing. http://www.us-passport-service-guide.com/can-i-expedite-a-passport-application-after-submitting-a-standard-renewal-application.html

We just returned from the Breakaway today, our very first NCL cruise. We were in an H5. When we boarded, the concierge gave us a little speech and told us the butler was in charge of "anything food and beverage related, except reservations." When we met our butler, he encouraged us to ask for anything we needed and he would do it for us, or point us to the right person to do it.

We filled out the breakfast card each evening requesting a basket of croissants be delivered in the morning with a pot of coffee. This was basically our only request, but he stopped by every afternoon to drop off snacks and ask if we needed anything. He also went over disembarkation procedures with us the last evening.

I got the feeling he would have been very happy to do more for us, we're just pretty low impact. My advice is to just ask for anything you need! If they can, they will.

We generally do a big group trip every year or two (10 to 30 people). We did Disney two years ago and Mexico last fall. We've never cruised with the group before, but we have the Escape booked for April 2017.

I love traveling with a big group! I'm a super ultra planner though. I make an outline of what my family (husband, kid, sisters and neice) will be doing, and ask the group to tell me anything they want to join us for. Usually we eat dinner together but do our own thing the rest of the day in little groups. If people are late, we start without them. It works really well for us and everyone gets the benefit of their own time and time with the group.

That's not true, OX cabins do exist as other poster before you said. But they do sell out fast due to small amount of them and the lowest subcategory is usually used as GTY after that subcategory is sold out - in this case as GTY oceanview.

 

In other words, OX does not mean guarantee. OX GTY means "guaranteed cabin in category OX or higher".

You're right of course, I should have been clearer. I simply meant to illustrate that even on the deck plans, OX is referred to as "Guarantee Oceanview"

When I booked an MX on the Breakaway, I was told at booking that even though I was being assigned an actual MX cabin at the time of booking, the category was a guarantee and I could be bumped up. I thought that explanation was more convoluted than it needed to be.

I am by no means an expert. But, it looks to me like there aren't any actual OK or OX cabins on deck 5. OKs are all on deck 8 and OX is just a booking category that designates a GTY, but could actually be assigned any other oceanview cabin.

It looks to me, from the deck plans, that all of the forward cabins on deck 5 are either OG, OC or O1

I think what might be happening is that you booked OX and so your reservation still shows that category, but you have been assigned an OG, OC or O1. I think you're in pretty good shape!

If you look at Norwegian's deck plan here: https://www.ncl.com/cruise-ship/gem/deck-plans#dsr4

and then compare the color of your assigned room to the chart on the left, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

I hope your trip is wonderful!

 

If that site's information is incorrect, and posters on this board are able to provide correct information, then I thank you for doing so.

What is your cabin number?

Ok. let me address the pennies a pour theory. i buy for a large restaurant chain and our cost, buying in bulk for many locations, for , grey goose vodka , is 1.70 a drink. Hardly pennies. And we are located in a market with lots of competition. Let us now compare to that to a cruise ship... in the middle of the ocean... with no competition.. I think they can charge what they want.

And since you are pouring it at home for pennies a day, I can only assume your are drinking rock gut and pouring 1/4 ounce drinks. And that you should perhaps stay home...

As for the server who will follow you around with a cooler of beer for that price, all day, good luck with that. Even working at the tipped minimum wage of 5, all day would be 90 bucks plus the 18 tip...so youre at 108. But most tip more for a private bartender but I am sure you would not because you drink for pennies. lol

You are making no sense

How does the above not make sense? There is no world in which a drink costs pennies.

I manage a bar and even our rail vodka is almost a dollar a pour for just the cost of the vodka. But the vodka isn't the only cost of the drink. You have to pay for the mixer (juice, soda), the ice machine that makes the ice, and the water in the ice, the glass that it's served in, washing the glass it's served in, the blender the makes the slushy drink, the electricity to run the blender, the bevnap or coaster it's sitting on, the shelf the liquor sits on, the cabinet it's stored in, the stool the patron parks on, the floor the stool is sitting on, the heat/air conditioning to keep the patron comfortable, the liability insurance incase something happens to the patron, in addition to the staff to make the drink, move the stock (barback), manage the shift..... The list goes on and on.

Our median pour price is $2.50 a drink BEFORE the cost of anything that goes into the glass.

The only way a drink costs "pennies a pour" is if you're drinking Nikolai a half oz at a time, warm, at home, in the dark, where your other costs are already sunk in your price of living.

As for being allowed to book them in, it will depend on how full your lifeboat station is.

Are you currently booked as a single? If so, I would guess your additional party would get the perks. If there are already two or more persons in your cabin, they won't get the perks regardless of when you book. The freebies are only for the first and second person in the cabin.

In grand Cayman on our last Caribbean cruise, we hired a private boat (a little one) for five hours and they let us pick three different destinations.

We did starfish beach, stingrays and an open water swim/snorkel over the coral reef.

It was one of the best/most fun days I've ever had, not just on a cruise.

We used Ebanks Watersports and our captain was Andrew. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

for haven there are no service fees. or so i thought.

There are no service fees if you book into haven initially, under the current promo. An upsell to the haven is a different story. It is my understanding that the promo you received at the time of booking remains the same. So, if you selected the UBP and paid the service fees on it, that remains the same. You are not eligible for the haven promos with an upsell.

Our friends walked from the ship to Penn Station. They did encounter one spot where they had to go down into the subway to get past a blocked area and that was a pain with their suitcases :eek: But, otherwise the walk wasn't too bad.

I mean, that's our backup plan. But it's about a mile and a half (1.3 for the most direct route according to google maps, and I'm sure the route won't be the most direct). Any other time, we would absolutely walk, but that's a pretty long walk with suitcases, and a kid in midtown.

We are coming into penn station on the train. We arrive at 9:15. We were planning on getting a cab from there to the terminal, but it looks like all routes cross the marathon in multiple places.

Oh no! We embark on March 20th!

We booked into MX over the phone and were assigned a cabin right away. This was almost a year ago and the cabin has stayed the same the entire time.

There are two actual MX cabins on the -away ships and the Escape. If either of those cabins are available when you book, you'll be assigned to them. Regardless of whether you book on the phone or online. I was advised that the cabin could change.

If those two cabins are already assigned, you're booking into MX-gty and you'll be assigned a cabin later.

Have you tried calling MSC ???

I did call them. They weren't willing to do any speculation, as you might imagine. They did answer a few of my program questions, so I understand the system a little better.

Just received an email from TA saying that NCL was offering us an upgrade from our spa balcony cabin to the Haven Courtyard Penthouse for $500 pp.

Should we take it????????????

This is our 2nd offer. First was for $750 pp.

What do you think?:confused:

How many people in your party? If it were my family, a party of 3, I would take it in a heartbeat.

So, we are experienced Disney Cruise Line cruisers. Over the last three years, their fares have more than doubled on the same sort of tired itineraries.

We've been exploring the idea of jumping ship (ha ha!) for a while now. We looked at Royal Caribbean, but didn't see anything that really attracted us and we kind of wanted a new ship and RCL is sending 3 of their four newest ships to China. We settled on NCL and booked our Spring Break on Breakaway out of New York, because we're train distance from the terminal.

My 40th birthday and my sister in law's 30th birthday are in 2017, and we wanted to plan a trip to europe. A few nights in Paris, nothing super over the top. But then we thought maybe we could do a few nights in Paris but follow it with a transatlantic cruise.

So, at first we read about NCL Bliss, and it sounded perfect. Brand new ship for the trip of a lifetime, right? Well, it looks like Bliss is going to China now too. So she's off the table.

So I started to look at other lines with new ships coming in 2017 and the MSC Seaside popped up on my radar! She's perfect!

So, I thought I might ask you guys, the professional MSC fans, to speculate with me for a minute and maybe answer a few questions?

I've been reading a lot about MSC over the last couple of days and it really seems like a perfect fit, culture wise. We're laid back Americans and I think we'd love the more European atmosphere of MSC.

So here's where I'd love you to speculate with me: Do you guys think she'll follow the pattern of other new ships and do a 3 day preview for industry followed by a Transatlantic that's a revenue sailing with passengers?

If you know about MSCs patterns, and could take a guess, where do you think that transatlantic will sail out of? I know this is a shot in the dark, and no one can predict this one. But if you could guess, just for fun, what would your guess be?

Again, a wild guess: I wonder what kind of port stops she'll make on the way to Miami? Probably Carribean?

Now for actual questions:

I don't understand the pricing models. We usually book a balcony, a beverage package (when one is available) and passes to the thermal suite on whatever ship we sail. We like to relax and really enjoy the ship and ourselves.

I see that Bella level is a la carte and everything is added separately. What I can't find is the price per day of the two drink packages and if the thermal spa pass can be added separately?

I also see that the Aurea level includes the basic drink package. Can you upgrade to the higher package? Does it include the thermal suite access for length of cruise? That would be worth it for us!

I'm sure i'll have more questions. I'll add them as I think of them!

I can't wait to find out where she'll sail! (following along)

We keep our passport cards in our wallets, our passport books in the safe, and PDFs of all of our documents stored on our phones.

We've cruised DCL a bunch and we're total Disney fanatics. (We own DVC, we visit Disney World two or three times a year.) We haven't sailed NCL yet, but we have a sailing on the Breakaway scheduled for Spring Break 16.

I would be hard pressed to compare the Wonder with any of the modern ships. And I would be hard pressed to choose the Wonder at a rate higher than being on another line's modern ship.

The Wonder launched in 1999 and is the second oldest in Disney's fleet and hasn't seen an extensive dry dock. The rumor I heard is that they have to keep it small (not adding the aft fishtail) in order for the ship to continue to fit through the panama canal until the expansion is finished.

We sailed the Magic last year for Christmas and she HAS had an extensive dry dock and is still showing her age.

If we were talking about the Fantasy, I would choose DCL every time. But between the Getaway or the Wonder, I would choose the Getaway or another new ship.

So, we haven't sailed NCL, yet. BUT we are avid Disney Cruise Line cruisers. As you can imagine, DCL attracts mostly families with kids, but also some adult singles and couples without. Last year we did a western Caribbean cruise over Christmas. Yes there were a huge number of kids. Everywhere. It was still totally lovely.

In fact, we invited My brother and his new wife (just married over a month) along with us and they have no kids and are actually pretty anti kid. They had a blast. So much so that they've begged us to include them in the next cruise we do!

So, grown ups on a cruise with lots of kids is still super fun, promise. There are lots of adult only areas. The only thing I would say is that you shouldn't plan on getting near the pool, it was like kid-soup on our cruise last Christmas.

Thanks Charlie4!

There is a room number on our reservation right now. 8714 I think. We're expecting it to bounce around as we approach the sail date.

When we booked through RCI it was on a "free cruise" certificate that came with a purchase we made about a year or so ago. The breakaway had insides available for "free" (we paid taxes and port fees). We booked the inside and then I saw on NCL's website the promotion for the UBP with a booking in an oceanview or above. I called the next day to see if they could apply the promotion with our booking. They were able to do so, for a charge of course. OV, Balcony and MiniSuites were within $50 of the same price per person, so we took the MX option for the upgrade fee and got the UBP with the booking. We ended up saving quite a bit over booking direct, but lots and lots of hoops to jump through.